Paper Chase Continues...

Sorry for the break in postings. I (Martine) was in Vegas for work most of the week and have not been able to figure out how to post using the internet functions on my blackberry (PDA). This may be extra long in order to catch up:)

We are currently in the "Paper Chase" phase of our adoption according to what seems to be the jargon of the international adoption. (In connection with that lingo, there are "Paper Pregnant" T-shirts available for sale for people who have completed the Paper Chase phase and have sent off their paperwork, but we certainly are not there yet.)

For our Paper Chase efforts, we have been doing the following this week:

1. Photo Layout: A special thanks to Meghan who spent a day last weekend with me taking photos of our neighborhood, local schools, local parks, the art center, our house (both inside and out), and Nate and I. All of these photos are needed for a "photo layout". Incidentally, we also need pictures with our extended family. So, if any of you family members have good family pictures (I prefer posed rather than action shots) that include our sisters, brothers, parents, neices and nephews, I would beVERY grateful if you would email them to us at martineandnate@yahoo.com (or any of our other email addresses for that matter). We have limited room (6 pages of 3x5 pictures) to get all of that info in, and we have big families, so pictures that include many people are prefered to those that have only a few people in them. (Also, the photo layout is a section where we can be creative if we want to ... many people use scrapbooking materials to make the presentation more colorful. I have never "scrapbooked", so I have yet to decide whether I will attempt it or whether I am better off just pasting pictures on regular computer paper... hopefully the Vietnam government will not care whether I have scrapbooking skills:))

2. Physical Exams: Nate and I both got our physicals this week. Now, we are just waiting for our blood work to come back before we have our doctor sign and get it notarized. In connection with that we are starting the immunizations that are recommended for Vietnam travel.

3. Property Statement: This is a letter from the Polk County Assessor about our home. This sounds easy, but we have complications. The house is in Nate's name (but we did not change his name on the deed when he changed his name to Olson-Daniel). So, we need to do a Quit Claim deed to put the deed in our married names...I am working on that.

4. Employment Letters: Letters verifying our employment and likelihood or continued advancement. Here we found a big difference between working for a small company and a large company. Nate's letter is done (in the exact format requested) by the Human Resources Director. My letter request went to the Employment Verifcation Group within the centralized Human Resources Group, and I had to speak to them to try to convince them to use my form rather than the standard company Employment Verfication letter...I still do not know the status despite having sent in the request two weeks ago...little more complicated in the big company bureaucracy.

5. References: A HUGE thanks to those of you who have agreed to write those letters for us. These are not your standard reference letters. In these letters and interviews people are asked to discuss philosophies on punishment, trans-racial issues...

6. Marriage Certificate: As you can see in the timeline, we requested it close to a month ago from the government of St. Lucia. Nate called yesterday and they have not recieved our request. Nate now believes me that mail sent abroad ought to be sent via Fed Ex (or other such carrier). We are resending.

7. Local Police Clearance: Requested two weeks ago...have to follow up as neither of us has ever been arrested, so it should be an easy request.

There are MANY other documents we need to put together, but those are the issues we are working with this week.

In addition, I have been working on the Notary Public issue. Almost every document needs to be notarized, and it needs to be notarized by a Notary whose commission does not expire within 12 months of the signature (not usually a requirement in U.S.). So, I decided that rather than beg different notaries to sign documents throughout the whole process, I would make a notary. Special thanks to Meghan for agreeing to let me make her a notary. I had Meghan fill out the application last weekend. She got her commission number yesterday. So, I ordered her a stamp. We should have our very own notary by the end of the week. I plan to then drag Meghan around town (first stop doctor's office) next week notarizing documents.

Well, now I think you are up to speed on the exciting issues we are working through. We have our home study home visit on Tuesday, so one of our weekend activities is installing the required Carbon Monoxide detector and checking our fire detectors and extinguishers... so that our house will pass inspection. Also, Thanks, Nate for cleaning house while I was in Vegas!